Hermitage Museum & Winter Palace

The State Hermitage Museum is one of the largest and most prestigious art museums in the world, housing over 3 million works of art and cultural artifacts in a complex of six magnificent buildings along the Neva River embankment. At its heart stands the Winter Palace — the former residence of Russian emperors, a Baroque masterpiece of 1,057 rooms, 1,945 windows, and 117 staircases. Founded by Catherine the Great in 1764, when she acquired a collection of 225 paintings from Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky, the Hermitage grew over two and a half centuries into a collection that rivals the Louvre and the British Museum. Its holdings span from Egyptian mummies to Impressionist masterpieces, from Scythian gold to Rembrandt's greatest works. The Winter Palace itself, designed by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli in the Elizabeth Baroque style, is painted its signature green and white — though it has been repainted in various colors throughout its history. Its Jordan Staircase, the Malachite Room, the Throne Room, and the Gallery of 1812 are among the most opulent interiors ever created. But the Hermitage is more than an art collection. It is a witness to the most dramatic moments in Russian history. It was here that the Bolsheviks stormed through the gates in 1917, ending three centuries of Romanov rule. It was here that the Leningrad blockade nearly destroyed both the building and its irreplaceable contents. And it is here that a colony of cats — maintained since the time of Empress Elizabeth — still patrols the basements, guarding the art from rats as they have for nearly 300 years.